One kitchen,
one supply chain.
Golden Shawarma is a halal Syrian kitchen on E Campbell Road in Richardson. Two rotisseries turn from open to close, and everything gets carved to order rather than scooped out of a tray.
There is no secret to shawarma. Marinated meat gets stacked on a vertical spit, and as the outside roasts it is shaved off in thin layers. What decides whether it is any good is the marinade, how long the stack has been turning, and whether someone carves your portion when you order it or an hour before.
What is actually in the marinade
Ours is Levantine, which is the Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian and Palestinian end of the family: cumin, coriander, cardamom, garlic, lemon and a little vinegar, left on the meat overnight. That is where the warm, faintly citrus edge comes from. It is spice as in seasoning, not spice as in heat — nothing on the menu is hot unless you ask for the hot sauce.
A Greek gyro is seasoned the other way: oregano, thyme, rosemary, and served with tzatziki instead of garlic sauce or tahini. Both come off a vertical rotisserie, which is why they look identical through the window. If you want the long version, we wrote it out in shawarma vs gyro.
Halal means the whole kitchen, not one shelf
Every meat here is halal. Chicken, beef, and the gyro too.
That last one is worth saying out loud, because it is the part people assume and are often wrong about. A lot of restaurants run halal shawarma next to a gyro cone from a different, non-halal supplier — both on the same menu, only one of them halal. We never brought a second supplier in, so there is nothing to keep separate and nothing to check. One supply chain, one answer.
If you are ordering for a mosque, a student org, or anyone who needs a straight answer before they commit, that is the answer: everything, all of it.
Saj, and why the bread matters
Most of the wraps go into pita. Some go into saj — a paper-thin Levantine flatbread cooked in seconds on a domed griddle, so it stays pliable instead of going dry at the fold. It is a different eating experience from the same filling, and it is the one regulars send people to try first. More on it in what is saj bread.
What 963 people said
We are at 4.7 out of 5 across 963 Google reviews. We have not cherry-picked that number and we are not going to pretend the four-star ones do not exist — the common note in those is the wait at Friday lunch, which is fair. Between 11:30 and 1:30 the line is real. Order ahead if you are on a clock.
Where to start if you have never been
- Two shawarma tacos, $1.99 and $2.29. The cheapest way to taste both meats before committing to a sandwich.
- Chicken shawarma sandwich, $9.99. Garlicky, pickles, the one we sell most of.
- Beef shawarma sandwich, $10.99. Richer, spiced deeper.
- Shawarma Mix, $11.99. Both meats, one wrap, for when you cannot pick.
- Falafel sandwich, $8.99. No meat, still the full treatment.
The whole thing with photos and prices is on the menu, and every dish we have a photo of is in the gallery.
Finding us, and when we are shut
930 E Campbell Rd, Suite 108, Richardson, TX 75081. Five minutes from UT Dallas, straight down Campbell. (214) 272-3734.
- Monday — closed
- Tuesday – Wednesday — 11:30 AM to 10:00 PM
- Thursday — 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM
- Friday – Saturday — 12:00 PM to 11:00 PM
- Sunday — 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Feeding a group instead? One tray covers 10 to 12 people — see catering.